


The Robin Substitution Gambit

by thenafics



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, and almost fluff, this was almost late
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-21
Updated: 2018-07-21
Packaged: 2019-06-13 21:18:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,634
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15373527
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thenafics/pseuds/thenafics
Summary: Getting hit by a stray bolt of magic flung off by an unconscious wizard was never high on Dick’s list of sought after experiences. Oh well. What better way to get to know Jason than to walk a day in his shoes.





	The Robin Substitution Gambit

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Salmonellagogo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Salmonellagogo/gifts).



> Like all things I write, this started ass fluff and then got kind of dark. I hope you like it! @salmonellagogo , the prompts you gave me were all great, but I ended up choosing this one because it was the best name of all the ones I could think of!

 

Dick had the wannabe wizard who’d been using his magic tricks to rob local banks knocked out and trussed up, waiting for the police when there was a sudden flash of light. As Dick was forced back from the still sleeping body of the wizard, the last thing he saw was Jason reaching out to him. Their fingers barely grasped, but the minimal grip was enough for Jason to pull Dick up against his chest and shield Dick from the impact of hitting the floor before Dick blacks out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Dick wakes up, his body feels heavy. His limbs are leaden and his chest aches as he strains to draw breath through sore ribs and the weight sitting against his chest. Dick’s head feels fuzzy and he’s so cold that he shivers. When Dick opens his eyes, the world swims for a second before snapping into sharper focus than he’s ever seen before. 

Dick lays right where he is for a moment before gathering enough willpower to actually try to sit up the rest of the way. He tenses his muscles and uses extra force to push his upper body up against the weight on his ribs. Whatever was on his chest gets flung off with surprising force as Dick surges up. He hears an muffled thump and whatever (whoever) it was that had been resting on him is launched off unexpectedly. There’s a shocked whimper after the thud of flesh hitting concrete that has Dick snapping his head around to look for the potentially injured person. His eyes catch on shaggy black hair and blue striped limbs before his brain starts to have it’s “oh shit,” moment. Then the tangled mass of limbs starts to right itself into some semblance of a person and Dick is met with his own disoriented face and Dick clicks on his comm.

“O. We have a bit of a situation.” The voice that comes out of him is smoke roughened and tinged slightly by an electronic buzz Dick assumes must be from the helmet’s voice modulator.

“What’s the situation, Hood?” Oracle’s response is clipped and computer modulated.

“This is actually Nightwing. Hood and I appear to have switched bodies,” Dick pauses slightly to glance over at Jason in his body, still disoriented, but there’s a look of dawning comprehension on his face when he sees the glare of red light on the helmet on Dick’s head.

“I’ll send Red Robin with the car. Get out of the building before the cops show up, the Red Hood is still wanted by the police and the feds.” The muffled sound of keys clicking underlines the new urgency in Barbara’s voice.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dick manages to struggle to his feet despite his new bulk and higher center of gravity only to find that Jason has already made it to a shaky standing position, supporting himself on a nearby desk. He’s been uncharacteristically non-verbal even for such a short time frame and the way he seems to be swaying unsteadily side to side has Dick thinking about possible concussions. He wobbles briefly before making an aborted step forward and beginning to plummet face first towards the floor. In a split second, Dick decides to try something he’d never be able to do for his little brother normally. He reaches out as gently and as quickly as he can with his barely controlled limbs and scoops what would normally be his own body up into a bridal carry, being careful not to jostle Jason’s head. Dick is shocked by how little extra strain the added weight puts on his body. He knew Jason was strong, he’d started being built more solidly then even Bruce once he started to get regular meals, he just didn’t realize how strong Jason actually was. The dazed look over Jason’s passed out face causes even more worry to settle in the pit of his stomach as he escapes into the nearest alleyway.

Tim meets him in the alley way with the only version of the Batmobile that actually has a backseat. Together they silently wrestle the still passed out Jason into a seat. Tim silently watches Dick fumble with the seat belt buckle for almost a minute with his now too large fingers before letting out a small huff and shoving Dick aside so he can buckle the strap himself. Dick folds himself into the now too small front seat with some difficulty while Tim works his way back around to the driver’s seat. Dick notices excess tension in Tim’s shoulders and the way he seems to lean towards the door as they drive away. Some of it drains away when Dick manages to find the hidden catches and pull the helmet off of his head, but Tim still remains tense and facing fully forward the whole car ride back to the cave.

Jason doesn’t wake up until they have him on an examination table. He flails violently and lets out a sound that everyone is just going to pretend wasn’t a sob. Bruce is the most immediately in Jason’s line of sight, so all of Jason’s focus is directed at him. 

“What happened?” he groans out, pulling away from where Bruce’s hand had been resting on his shoulder, an action he normally wouldn’t even attempt with his second son. Dick feels the emptiness of the area around him keenly, missing the frequent casual touches he has become so used to.

“Body-swap spell,” Tim answers from across the room. “Zatanna is going to stop by tomorrow night to try and reverse it. Until then, you’re stuck here.”

Tim is normally the one who deals with Jason, so it’s not unusual for him to answer Jason’s questions in any way, but his voice lacks some of the edge it usually carries. The words themselves are the same style of no-nonsense statements that Tim always uses for business but the tone is something Dick is more used to being directed at himself than Jason.

“Who’d I swap with? Anyone fun?” Jason’s voice carries the strain it always does in proximity to Bruce, barely covered by a joking tone and genuine curiosity.

“Me,” says Dick. Jason just gives him a patronizing look.

“How am I supposed to tell which one you are when you’re in my body? Can’t exactly recognize your voice.”

Dick is floored seeing Jason’s usual smirk plastered onto his own face. On Dick’s naturally softer features, it looks playful instead of mean and reaches all the way up to the corners of his eyes. He opens his mouth to answer, but Bruce beats him to the punch.

“You switched with Dick.”

Jason is very clearly surprised by not only Bruce’s proximity,but also his actual answer. He looks down at his hands in some sort of wonder before looking over at where Dick is sitting in his body.

“I always did want to be you when I was younger.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dick wakes up halfway through the night with a sharp pain in the center of his chest. It feels like lightning slicing across the sides of his chest and down into his stomach. The pain lances deep into the muscle tissue. It’s like nothing he’s ever felt before. Sometime during the episode, he must be making noise, because the next thing he knows, he’s flanked on either side of his bed by Bruce and Tim. Bruce looks more frazzled than Dick has seen him in a long time. Jason comes stumbling into the room still half asleep while Dick sits there, chest heaving while Bruce clutches at his hand.

“What’s going on?”

Jason takes a brief look at the room and the way Dick’s hand is pressed into the middle of his chest and the look of understanding on his face just about breaks Dick’s heart.

“It’s phantom pain,” he explains. Every word seems to cause him physical pain as it comes out. “Just take your shirt off and put a heat pad on. It’ll go away soon.”

Then Jason disappears from sight and into another bedroom. Tim jogs out to grab a heat pad. Dick is left there feeling like something is about to fall out of it. Bruce keeps a comforting hand on his shoulder and helps Dick ease the uniform top he’s fallen asleep in off his shoulders and over his head. The twinge of pain through his chest is sharp enough that Dick doesn’t notice the tending of Bruce’s hand on his shoulder through the pain. He does hear the sharp intake of breath when Bruce looks at where the pain originated from. The sound prompts Dick to look down for himself. 

There on his chest is a mess of scar tissue unlike any he’s seen before. The flesh is cross crossed with jagged tears of scar tissue across the ribs and pockmarked with the remnants of flash burns. Running from one side of his chest to the other and then bisecting his sternum all the way past his belly button is a thick rope of scar tissue. The lines where the original stitches would have pulled the skin in tight are uneven and give the whole thing a rough look. Dick is nauseated by a combination of physical pain and emotional anguish at the realization that this must be a fairly regular occurrence for Jason.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jason carefully avoids everyone until Zatanna shows up to switch them back. He doesn’t even drop in momentarily to make any witty comments at someone else’s expense. No one else dares to bring up the event even months later, but Dick carries the memory of it with him every day. That pain resurfaces every time he catches a glimpse of red polycarbonate over the rooftops of Gotham, reaching across smoldering bridges to the one person he never managed to save.


End file.
